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Commercial Litigation UK
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April 19, 2024
Verifone Gets Manager's Victimization Claim Tossed
Electronic payment tech company Verifone convinced an appellate judge Thursday to overturn an employment tribunal's ruling that it victimized a senior manager when it denied her the chance to appeal her dismissal.
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April 19, 2024
Royal Mail Accuses Developer Of Copying Postcode Database
Royal Mail has accused a software developer of using its database of postcode information to set up its own address-finding company.
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April 19, 2024
Muslim Worker Voted 'Grinch' Loses Discrimination Claim
A learning support assistant lost his discrimination claim against his employer, with the Employment Tribunal finding that the decision to give him a "Grinch" award during Christmas season was not linked to his being Muslim and did not celebrate Christmas.
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April 19, 2024
Sudan Granted Two-Year Grace Period In £1.5B Debt Row
Long-standing creditors of Sudan were granted a two-year stay of their claim against the nation on Friday, with a London judge agreeing with the creditors that the country should be given time to stabilize its financial situation in the wake of political turmoil.
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April 19, 2024
BA Staff Get Fresh Shot At Holiday Pay Claim After Agnew
British Airways and six of its staff have both won appeals over how their holiday pay was calculated, as a judge ruled on Friday that the years-long case must be reheard following a 2023 U.K. Supreme Court decision.
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April 19, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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April 19, 2024
Grant Settlement Proves Pull Of Offer That Can't Be Refused
Hugh Grant's decision to settle his case against News Group to avoid the "most likely" outcome of paying millions in legal fees even if he won demonstrates the effectiveness of a common cost-saving legal mechanism despite criticism the media giant is being allowed to avoid scrutiny.
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April 19, 2024
Prince Harry Beats Tabloid's Bid To Push Back Privacy Trial
Prince Harry and others suing the U.K. arm of Rupert Murdoch's media empire won their battle to avoid a preliminary trial on whether their claims were brought too late after a judge refused Friday to push the case back, ruling the main trial should go ahead as planned.
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April 18, 2024
Ex-Autonomy CEO Wanted Whistleblower Fired, Ex-GC Says
Former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch thought a finance department whistleblower was "trying to destroy the company" and wanted him fired, the software company's former U.S. general counsel testified Thursday in a criminal fraud trial over claims Lynch conned HP into buying the British company at an inflated price of $11.7 billion.
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April 18, 2024
EU Antitrust Chief Says Merger Tool Not A 'Power Grab'
The European Commission's top competition enforcer said Thursday the agency has taken a measured approach to using its newly asserted power to review mergers that fall short of local thresholds, as the European trading bloc's high court mulls a challenge of that authority from DNA sequencing company Illumina.
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April 18, 2024
Pawn Shop Owes VAT On Auction Sales, EU Court Says
A Portuguese pawn shop must pay value-added taxes of €308,000 ($327,000) from sales commissions of auctioned items because the auction is not part of the exempt loan, the Court of Justice of the European Union said Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Ericsson Can't Push Lenovo's FRAND Claim Out Of UK
Swedish telecom Ericsson has failed to force Lenovo's claim over patent licensing terms out of the U.K., as a London judge on Thursday concluded that the English courts are "clearly the most appropriate" forum for the Chinese multinational's case.
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April 18, 2024
Law Firm Can't Block Investors From Group Negligence Claim
Williams & Co. Solicitors cannot block 134 property investors from bringing a joint negligence claim over failed property development projects because U.K. laws say "in plain English" that multiple parties can join a claim, a London appeals court ruled Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Police Inspector Can Relaunch Her Equal Pay Fight
A female police inspector has won the chance to relaunch her equal pay battle against London's police force, with an appeal tribunal ruling Thursday that she had an arguable case that the force's part-time pay scheme discriminated against women.
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April 18, 2024
Dexcom Asks EU Court To Toss Abbott Med Tech Patent
Medical device maker Dexcom Inc. has asked Europe's patent court to revoke Abbott Diabetes Care Inc.'s patent for glucose monitor screens, firing back at its rival in a sprawling international battle over the technology.
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April 18, 2024
Insurers Face Appeal Over Refusal To Cover Bribery Loss
A holding company took its fight for an insurance payout to the Court of Appeal on Thursday, urging justices to force its insurers to cover its claim for losses it sustained when its acquisition of a construction contractor went south due to bribery and corruption allegations.
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April 18, 2024
Womble Bond Told Post Office To Withhold Docs From Court
Womble Bond Dickinson advised the Post Office to "suppress" key documents from the court "for as long as possible" in a case brought by wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters, according to correspondence disclosed at the inquiry into the scandal Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Negligence Claims Against Law Firm May Go To Trial
A London court has ordered 35 investors to clarify their claims against a law firm that they say failed to properly advise them on the risks of sinking an estimated £2.7 million ($3.4 million) into a "worthless" property development.
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April 18, 2024
Monex Unit And Drug Co. Settle £19M Contract Dispute
An Indian drugmaker has settled its £19.4 million ($24.1 million) claim against a unit of foreign exchange giant Monex, alleging it unfairly canceled currency exchange contracts with "no basis."
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April 18, 2024
Head Of Chambers Accused Of Bullying By Expelled Barrister
A barrister told an employment tribunal on Thursday that the head of an English criminal chambers put him through "absolute hell" by bullying him and trying to end his career before expelling him from the chambers.
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April 18, 2024
Slater And Gordon Wins Bid To Rebut Ex-Analyst's Appeal
Slater and Gordon won permission on Thursday to challenge a former costs analyst's appeal that he was harassed for having mental illnesses after arguing that a lower tribunal's ruling suggests the accused individuals didn't know enough about his condition to have done so.
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April 17, 2024
Ex-JPMorgan Analyst Liked 'Winding Up' Autonomy CEO, Jury Told
A former JPMorgan stock analyst testifying Wednesday in the criminal fraud trial of former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch said that he "took pleasure in winding up Lynch" and once even used a Hitler analogy to describe his performance, but said his critical coverage was never personal.
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April 17, 2024
Firefighter, Doctor Unions Lose Appeal Over Pensions Swap
Trade unions representing firefighters and doctors lost an appeal Wednesday to help their members recover losses resulting from a change to pension plan rules after justices concluded that HM Treasury had the right to pass the cost on to scheme members.
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April 17, 2024
Raid On Broker In Cum-Ex Fraud Case Was Lawful, Court Says
A raid on the London office of commodity brokerage MCML Ltd. following a request from Danish prosecutors investigating an alleged £56 million ($70 million) tax fraud was lawful, a London court ruled Wednesday.
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April 17, 2024
Gov't, Employers Face Pressure After Right To Strike Ruling
The U.K. will face fresh pressure to improve protections for striking workers after the country's highest court declared Wednesday that part of a foundational trade union law is incompatible with employees' human rights.
Expert Analysis
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What To Know About AI Fraudsters Before Facing Disputes
The potential of artificial intelligence to augment fraudsters' efforts is arguably unprecedented, so lawyers will swiftly need to become familiar with the fundamentals of AI to deal with it in the context of disputes, says Daniel Wyatt and Christopher Whitehouse at RPC.
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UK Insolvency Reform Review Shows Measures Are Working
The U.K. Insolvency Service's recently published review of legislative reforms to the corporate insolvency regime demonstrates that despite being underutilized, the measures have been shown to help viable companies survive, and with the current difficult economic environment, will likely be an important aspect of organizational restructuring going forward, says Kirsten Fulton-Fleming at Taylor Wessing.
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More UK Collective Actions On The Horizon After Forex Ruling
A U.K. appeals court's recent decision in Forex case Evans v. Barclays is likely to significantly widen the scope of opt-out collective proceedings that can be brought, paving the way for more class actions by prospective claimants who have previously been unable to bring individual claims, say Robin Henry and Tamara Davis at Collyer Bristow.
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How Russia Sanctions May Complicate Contract Obligations
Against the backdrop of recent comprehensive sanctions against Russia and Belarus, a review of recent U.K. case law clarifies that certain force majeure clauses likely cover trade sanctions, and that future litigation will further develop the scope of force majeure and frustration in the context of sanctions, says Frances Jenkins at Quillon Law.
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New Guidance Offers Clarity For Charities On ESG Investing
The need for charities to understand investing in line with environmental, social and governance aspirations has never been more pressing, and recently updated U.K. Charity Commission guidance should give trustees confidence to make decisions that are right for their organization, says Robert Nieri at Shoosmiths.
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Taking Stock Of Company Climate Duties After ClientEarth
Despite the High Court's recent dismissal of ClientEarth v. Shell, the case nonetheless has key consequences for companies that are susceptible to being targeted by nonprofit activists as environmental, social and corporate governance lawfare continues, says Dan Harris at Chancery Advisors.
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Copyright Cheat Sheet: Finding Substantially Similar Songs
Using the recent copyright infringement case against Ed Sheeran over his hit song "Thinking Out Loud" as a case study, forensic musicologist Ethan Lustig provides an overview for attorneys of which musical elements do and do not, when altered, create the sense of a new or distinct composition — a determination increasingly sought from experts in court.
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Lessons On Cricket Patent History And IP Protection At UPC
On the heels of the creation of the Unified Patent Court in Europe, Susan Bradley at Marks & Clerk looks at how its development is interwoven with the history of cricket, and why inventors in that field have always taken advantage of the latest developments in intellectual property protection.
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FCA Case Failures Highlight Value Of Robust Investigation
The recent U.K. upper tribunal judgment in Seiler, Whitestone and Raitzin v. The Financial Conduct Authority, criticizing the regulator for accepting a narrative advanced by the firm, makes clear that such admissions must not get in the way of a proper investigation to enable agencies to target the correct individuals, say Tom Bushnell and Olivia Dwan at Hickman & Rose.
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Reputation Management Lessons From Spacey Case
While a U.K. jury recently acquitted actor Kevin Spacey of sexual assault charges, his reputation has been harmed, illustrating the importance for lawyers to balance a client's right to privacy with media engagement throughout the criminal process, says Jessica Welch at Simkins.
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Factors To Consider In Protecting Software With Trade Secrets
With trade secrets protecting subject matter that would not otherwise be eligible for a patent now a mainstay of many multinationals’ intellectual property strategies, software developers have a number of considerations in deciding whether this is a viable alternative to protect their invention, says Dave Clark at Potter Clarkson.
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What ClientEarth Ruling Means For Shareholder Climate Suits
The High Court recently confirmed its earlier decision in ClientEarth v. Shell, illustrating that environmental groups seeking to bring a derivative action against corporate directors' strategic decision making may find it challenging to obtain admissible evidence to establish a prima facie case of a breach, say lawyers at Herbert Smith.
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Directors Should Beware Reinvigorated UK Insolvency Service
The recent lengthy disqualification of Carillion directors serves as a salutary lesson to executives on the level of third-party scrutiny to which their actions may be exposed, and a reminder that the directors’ fiduciary duty to creditors is paramount once a company is irretrievably insolvent, says Ben Drew at Fladgate.
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EU Privacy Plan Finally Resolves Data Transfer Woes
Previous attempts by the European Commission to facilitate data transfers to the U.S. have been unsuccessful, but the recent EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework may bring greater legal certainty through new control mechanisms and clearer supervisory authority functions, say Joaquín Muñoz and Robbie Morrison at Bird & Bird.
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The New Accountability Landscape For Financial Regulators
The preliminary-stage success of a group of U.K. lawmakers in a case against the Financial Conduct Authority highlights the significant hurdles for review of regulatory actions, but the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 creates additional visibility into the regulators' decision making, which may lead to an increase in judicial review activity, say attorneys at Cleary.